Monday morning! Let the clinic begin! November 17

It rained throughout the night.  At the moment, at 6am, it’s just overcast and if it’s going to be a sunny day, that will burn off by 10am or so.  We will be scrambling to get some breakfast when the cafeteria opens at 7am to wolf down some breakfast because we hope to be loaded up and on the road by 7:20.  There is no school this week, so traffic should be lighter than usual.  Our first tasks when we get to the church will be to get the physical layout of the clinic setup and begin to train our volunteers in the various stations of the clinic.  With a small team, our roles will be to get things up and running and to supervise more so than actually man each part of the operation.  We are all looking forward to seeing many old friends, including the doctors that will serve with us this week.  Stay tuned for a report at the end of the day on how things went.  Continue to pray for a successful week of spreading the Gospel through human care ministry. To God be the Glory!

Sunday worship and other happenings... November 16

It continued to drizzle as we helped the other teams load up their footlockers and personal luggage as they headed out into the mission field.  We were the last to depart the Little Daughters of St. Joseph facilities at around 9am.  We had a little extra time, so we swung by Rosa Mystica and dropped off our luggage and claimed our rooms there.  We arrived at the church at 10am, right on time for worship.  With the rainy morning, we were among the first ones there, since rain, puddles and mud makes it difficult to travel in the slum.  It was a blessing, because we got to catch up with our old friends there.  Some of them were Emmanuel, the evangelist tapped to do the sermon, Thomas, the caretaker of the church and Pastor James, who was still suffering with a bad throat and not much voice.  The worship service was wonderful, as usual, with a mix of more traditional hymns, choir music with Tanzanian, Somalian and other African influences and the Liturgy.  Church let out around 1pm, we said some m ore hellos and goodbyes and headed to the Junction for lunch at Java House.  We got a nice surprise, our friend from Kawangware, Mambo, joined us and we found out he would be our driver for the week.  He has helped in previous clinics and will effectively be a 5^th team member for us. 

After lunch, we shopped at the Nakumatt for snacks, water and clinic supplies such as paper towels, toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  All items that don’t make much sense to transport halfway around the world and that are readily available within walking distance of Rosa Mystica.  Our driver for the day, Simon, dropped us off, along with about 14 cases of water and some boxes of Bibles.  We divvied these things up among our three rooms and will dole them out as needed during the clinic.  Since we had such a late lunch we decided not to opt for the dinner at Rosa Mystica.  In fact, unless we order dinner, they won’t have it or charge us for it.  I’m guessing we will be eating out at least 3 times with friends this week, so that works just fine.  While dinner is actually part of our travel package, the food is so good at the mall next door with quite a variety of restaurants that it makes sense to entertain our local friends there when we can. 

I received an email this afternoon from a good friend of mine and Redeemer, Dr. Paul Maier.  He is having some computer issues that are interfering with the final edits on his new book.  I’m working on making contact and seeing if there is anything I can do by remote control, phone or email.  The world is certainly a smaller place these days.  I’m thinking my fee for doing international computer consulting has got to be a personally signed and dedicated copy of his new book.  Pretty cool, huh?  That’s about all for now, the others are starting a game of dominos and threatening to teach me how to be ruthless at it like they are.  If I can get the computer repair handled, I may have to take them up on it.  We’ll call it an early night, we’ll need to be fresh to get the clinic up and running in the morning.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for an effective mission, both from the human care/medical perspective and from the evangelism point of view.  

Early Sunday morning November 16

Alarms began going off starting at a little before 6am, which was what mine was reset for after being up for a while in the middle of the night.  It’s dry this morning and I’m thankful for that, since we’ll be helping the other teams pack up for their journeys to their clinic locations after a 7am breakfast.  Even though I a had a bit of a rough night, I’m pretty well rested and I’m comforted by knowing that on my last few missions to Africa, I usually got a pretty sound sleep on the first Sunday night.  Definitely something to look forward to.  Sometimes it’s the little things in life!

The Redeemer team is scheduled to leave for the church in Kawangware around 9:15.  Pastor James has lost some of his voice, so or friend Emmanuel is slated to do the sermon this morning.  This is good, because if the past is any guide, Pastor James will be needing his voice for the rest of the week.  Best to rest it on the Sabbath. 

I spoke too soon, a steady rain has begun at 6:40, which might mean I’ll get to break out my rain poncho.  I always get a cheap poncho at Academy sporting goods for each trip.  On one of my first missions, one of the old hands told me, “If you don’t use something for three mission trips in a row, don’t pack it again, with one exception.  Your rain gear.”  True words, when you need one here, especially in Nairobi, you really need one.  Many times, we’ve had a beautiful day until about 4pm.   Then, late afternoon clouds will come into the elevated city, which is from 5500 to maybe 6500 feet above sea level” and a downpour of Biblical proportions will ensue, just as we are packing up and needed to get to our vehicle.  At that point, a $4 poncho is a great investment.  More to follow after we get moved over Rosa Mystica, our lodgings for the rest of the week.  

Saturday afternoon, lunch and an excursion to see crocodiles and more! November 15

Ben was able to procure a van so they we could ride in comfort with him, Maggie and their two young daughters. It was still drizzling when we pulled into the dirt parking lot of Nairobi Mamba Village, a wild game display attraction that has numerous crocodiles of all ages, some very large giraffes, some large turtles and a small lake that is home to cormorants and other water fowl.  We were nearly the only ones there, so Ben checked on the prices and it was about $10 apiece for each of us and $3 for residents’ of Kenya.  We decided to wait and see if the rain was going to burn off and went to the Veranda for lunch.  Each of us had a great meal, some had sandwiches, some had chicken dishes, Howard and I had fried shrimp and fries, while Ralph got a hollowed out avocado filled with shrimp and an avocado sauce.  As we were eating our leisurely lunch, sure enough, the sun broke through and things began to dry out rapidly. 

By the time we returned the Mamba Village, only about 10 minutes away, the parking lot was nearly full. The mud and the puddles were already drying out nicely.  Howard treated the group to admission to the park and then we were greeted by Francis, who was to be our guide for the day.  He was a very knowledgeable young man about the many birds and wildlife throughout Kenya and had a very deep knowledge of each species he show us.  Our first stop was a pond that was surrounded by many large crocodiles, sunning themselves, apparently dead or maybe replicas.  I couldn’t detect any breathing or other signs of life.  He took about a six foot piece of4 inch diameter PVC pipe and poked one of the larger crocs, and we all jumped back at how suddenly and violently the crocodile reacted.  We got quite a few good pictures of several of them with their mouths open, looking very menacing, from only a few feet away.  Francis showed us a lot about this species, including the fact that it has no tongue and that they keep their mouths open when they are warm to help regulate the heat, since they don’t sweat.  Our next stop was a baby alligator pond, and some of us got to hold one that was about two and a half feet long.  Francis showed us a crocodile egg and we also learned that if the eggs are incubated at less than 70 degrees, the offspring will be female, above that, male.

Our final exhibit inside was several large and small turtles.  We learned about their lifespan, how to tell male from female and lots of other facts.  Some of us held a medium sized one for another great set of photo opportunities.  Nothing like a selfie with a giant turtle, I always say!

Once we got back outside, we started to take a walk around one side of the small lake that was there.  We saw some folks floating in boat, waterfowl in and around the water and signs for Egypt, Libya and other African countries.  Each area had plant life from that region.  As we wound around the lake, we came to a small field inhabited by several very large ostriches.  We have seen them before on photo safaris from a distance, they are quite large up close and personal.  Francis broke off a piece of lantana from a nearby bush and fed one of them through the fence.  He absolutely loved this treat!  My close-up pictures revealed they have eyelashes that most women would die for! 

We finished the afternoon by walking back towards the park entrance, with Francis continuing to point out various birds and other creatures.  I got several chances to take rapid fire photo sequences of larger bird in flight, one of my hobbies.  I hope some of them turn out well.

We went back to our compound, Little Daughters of St. Joseph for well-deserved naps, prior to worshiping with the rest of the team members that still remained in Nairobi.  The team going to Kitui left after lunch for Kitui, so they could worship with the congregation they would be serving there on Sunday morning.  We had about 20 of our team left and we were outnumbered by our many friends who included church leaders, evangelists, volunteers from Nuru (the Lutheran Hour Ministries in Kenya) and an adult choir that came from the church in Kawangware to provide the music.  It was great renewing old acquaintances and introducing first time team members to our friends that we had served with on past missions.

Our services were followed by a buffet dinner and we all called it an early night around 8pm.  I started writing this post and then went to bed around 10pm.  I am now finishing it up at 2am after getting up when I couldn't sleep.  I took a shower to save time in the morning and to make sure I got hot water, sometimes a precious commodity when we have large numbers of people wanting the same thing in the morning or in the evening.  It’ll be back to bed after publishing this.  Stay tuned, I will hopefully have both the time and an Internet connection Sunday afternoon (we’re 9 hours ahead of Austin here) to bring you up to date.  Also, I hope to have enough bandwidth to post a picture or two, sometimes this works out, sometimes we just have to be patient until a few days after we get back to the States. Please keep us in your prayers for a safe and effective mission.  Blessings everybody! 

A rainy Saturday morning, November 15th

As predicted, our group arrived just before 10pm in Nairobi and we were bused to the international cargo area, which has doubled as the arrival terminal since the airport fire in August of 2013.  They had a scanning system as we entered the building that was looking for passengers running a fever.  My understanding is they had previously been taking temperatures individually, this was a high tech beam of what appeared to be infrared light that everyone passed through.  They are taking the threat of infectious disease very seriously here and we were glad to see that. 

It’s 7am here.  I was supposed to go on a photo safari to the Nairobi Game Park near the airport.  Our original group of 14 dwindled to 9 hardy souls, mostly first timers, because it has been raining all night.  I really didn't want to subject my nice camera to those conditions and I have had several experiences in the past of needing to help push vans when they had gotten stuck in the mud.  I’ll leave that adventure for others!

The four of us had breakfast at 8am and were able to contact our friends Ben and Maggie. They are coming to pick us up around 10:30 or 11 to show us around a few sights in Nairobi and get some lunch.  We will be worshiping here at the convent at 5:30pm with the other teams, followed by dinner.  More to follow!

Friday November 14th Travel

Our experience in flying out of Austin was a dream come true.  We all arrived at ABIA at 3pm, Pastor Kevin helped get all the footlockers into the terminal and we were checked in and had cleared security by 3:30.  We had plenty of time to eat in the food court and make last minute calls to friends and family.  I even fixed one of my customer’s computers by phone.  The only disappointment came when the front row seats that Howard and Martha had reserved at extra expense had been given to a young family.  I’m hoping they can get a refund for this.  British Air Flight 190 was one of the 787 Dreamliners.  They have a very nice touchscreen entertainment system that allows you to pause, rewind and play just like a DVR.  There were USB jacks for keeping your phones charged up and for displaying pictures from smartphones on the display.  Each seat also had a 110 volt power tap underneath it, handy for laptops and other devices.  We all were able to get a little sleep on the flight after dinner, which was a choice between chicken curry and vegetable pasta.  While it wasn't the greatest food, it filled us up and it was way better than British Air’s food used to be.  We were awakened about an hour before touchdown for a light breakfast and hot tea or coffee.  We had a good jet stream at our backs and arrived in London about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

The early arrival was a good thing, since we had to take a bus across the rainy tarmac in 50 degree weather to Terminal 5, where we found that we needed to go through security, even though we were flying out of the same terminal.  We were waved into the longest lines, even though we pointed out we had a tight connection, with only about 45 minutes to go before our gate would close.  Martha was able to get the attention of a different agent and we were sent to the Fast Trak line, only to wait forever for our carry-ons to be screened.  Martha and Howard made it through, but Ralph and I got diverted, me for my laptop and he for his suitcase.  We sent the Faskes ahead to the gate to let them know we were on the way.  They swabbed my laptop for explosives and tore Ralph’s carry-on completely apart and spent quite a bit of time examining each and every item.  I walked away, I was afraid I’d say something, cause an even bigger problem and we’d miss our flight to Nairobi for sure.  Once Ralph was free to go, we dashed through the airport, got to the Departures display and it said our gate was closing.  We got to the gate and were pointed to another bus, which took us and about 30 other latecomers to our waiting plane.  We climbed the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief once we were seated.  After we were airborne, the meal choice was the same as the night before, so we all got the opposite of our previous selections!  I am writing this with about 4 hours to go until we arrive in Nairobi. Another group of ours will arrive an hour before us, flying from Houston to Amsterdam via KLM.  Our plane also has a team from Dallas and one from Illinois.  We get to Nairobi about 10:30, so after going through customs, getting our visas, loading up our footlockers and taking the 45 minute ride to ur lodgings, I’m counting on bedtime being no earlier than 1am after a much needed shower.   We’ll be staying the first two nights at Little Daughters of St. Joseph convent in Karen, a nice suburb of Nairobi.  Following church on Sunday, we’ll move to Rosa Mystica, another convent a block away from a nice shopping center.  We’ve stayed there before, we’ll have individual rooms with breakfast and dinner provided, although we expect to go out a couple of times for supper.  That’s all for now.  This will probably be posted sometime Saturday afternoon after activities of the day.  There is a 9 hour time difference, so this blog post will probably be available before noon Austin time.  Check back here often as our adventure unfolds!  

Head 'em on out! November 13 is here...

The day has finally arrived.  As I write this, I am about half an hour from Pastor Kevin arriving with his pickup truck full of footlockers.  He's going to take me to the airport here in Austin, where we'll meet Ralph, Howard and Martha for the flight to London.   British Air just added direct flights to Heathrow last April.  This will take the place of driving down to Bush International in Houston, paying for long-term parking and reversing the process at the end of the trip.  It should knock nearly a day of travel out of the total.  Our only concern at this point is that we only have an hour and a ten minute layover in London.  Even though we will be flying into the same terminal, Terminal 5, that we will be departing from, we will almost certainly have to go through security.  I'm praying that our flight from Austin makes good time and there will be some British Air employees on the ground that can shepherd us through the whole process.  If we miss our flight, we will be given vouchers for a Kenyan Air flight later in the day, but wouldn't get to Nairobi until 5am Saturday, rather than 10:30pm Friday night as originally planned.  I'm supposed to help lead a group in two vans on a local safari early Saturday to the Nairobi Game Park.  Should be interesting, to say the least, if we're on that other flight.  I know I'll sleep well Saturday night if that happens!

More to follow as I have time, Internet and electricity.  All three can be in short supply at times!  If we miss the flight in London, you'll see more written from Heathrow.  If not, it may be Saturday or even Sunday before the next entry appears here.  We'll be staying at Rosa Mystica, a Catholic convent, during the week and will be a block from a coffee shop called Java House that has good wifi.  So, I should be pretty regular during the week in telling tall tales about our adventures in and around Nairobi.  Blessings, everybody!